Automatic knitting-machine



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

L. N. D. WILLIAMS.

' AUTOMATIC KNITTING MACHINE. No. 552,804. Patented Jan. 7, 1896.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

L. N. D. WILLIAMS.

AUTOMATIC KNITTING MACHINE.

No. 552,804. Patented Jan. 7, 1896.

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LOUIS X. D. IVILLIAMS, OF ASIIBOURNE, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ROBERT IV.SCOTT, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMATIC KNlTTING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,804, dated January'7, 1896.

' Application filed March 8, 1895. $erial No. 540,947. (No model.)

To all whom it may GOYZCGT'IL.

Be it known that I, LOUIS N. ILXVILLIAMS, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in Ashbourne, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain Improvements in Automatic Knitting-Machines, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention consists of certain improvements in the knitting-machinefor which Robert IV. Scott and myself obtained Letters Patent numberedtShGlO, dated October 18, 1892, the object of my present invention beingto permit the operation of the machine at higher speed than heretoforeduring the rotating movement. This object I attain by throwing themechanism for vibrating the presserplates out of operation during therotation of the machine for round-and-round knitting.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan or top view ofsuflicient of the machine to illustrate my present improvements. Fig. 2is a side view looking in the direction of the arrow on, Fig. 1. Fig. isa side view looking in the direction of the arrow y, Fig. 1. Fig. a is aview illustrating another means than that shown in Figs. 1,2 an d 3,forthrowing out of action the mechanism for vibrating the presserplates,and Fig. is a view representing in a llat plane the cams of thecam-cylinder.

The machine in its general construction is similar to that forming thesubject of the above-recited patent. Hence I will only describe suchparts of the same as are necessary to convey a proper understanding ofthe improvements to which my present invention relates.

The cams of the cam-cylinder are shown in Fig. 5 and are similar tothose of the former patent, said cams comprising the needle rest orsupport 1, the lifting-cam 2, the combined lifting and depressing cams 3and 4t flanking the same, and the depressing-cam 5, which is mountedupon a spring 6 on the outside of the cam-cylinder and is under controlof a lever 7, so that it can either be thrust inward so as to act uponthe bits of the needles, or can be permitted to move outward so as to beinoperative.

The shaft which drives the cam-cylinder of the machine is represented at104:, this shaft having as usual a crank-wheel or pin 125 to which isconnected one end of a rod 126, the opposite end being connected to thedepending weighted arm 127 of the rock-shaft 17 which carries thevibrating-plate 13, the latter, as in the former machine, carrying theadjustable pressers for acting upon the needles of the machine andpressing them down into operative position after they have been raisedto inoperative position by the cams of the cam-box. In the presentinstance, however, instead of providing a permanent connection betweenthe bar 126 and the arm 127, I form a notch a in the bar 126 forengaging with a pin 1) on the arm 127, so that if the bar 126 is lifteduntil its notch is free from engagement with the pin, the vibrations ofthe plate 13 will be discontinued. The bar 126 is acted upon by a spring126 extending to a portion of the fixed frame of the machine and tendingto depress said bar 126.

The lifting of the bar 126 is effected by means of a lever (Z mounted onthe base of the machine and acted upon by a cam f on the lever 62 whichis employed for acting upon certain of the lever mechanisms carried bythe cam-box 3 of the machine. The lever 62 is elevated by reason of itsconnection by a link 62 with the pawl-arm 37 when the ma chine ischanging from to-and-fro and roundand-round knitting, and this effectsthe simultaneous lifting of the bar 126 so as to free its notch a fromengagement with the pin l) and thus stop the vibration of the plate 13.

If desired, the lever 62 may be held in an elevated position during theentire time that round-and-round knitting is being carried on but as itmay be advisable in some cases to drop the lever 62 before thecompletion of the round-and-round movements, I connect to the back ofthe plate 13 a spring gwhich, as soon as the pin 1) is free from thenotch a of the bar 126, draws the frame 13 upward until a stop-lug h onthe same strikes a set-screw i on an upright rod 1" of the fixed frame,the pin 1) then occupying a position below the lowermost positionassumed by the notch (l, in the movement of the bar 126.

In order to bring the pin 1) again into position for engaging with thenotch a when it is desired to resume the vibration of the plate 13 onthe resumption of to-andfro knitting,

the lug 71 has a pin on which is acted upon by a cam 02, carried by thepawlarm 30, which is connected by a link 61 to the lever 61, the latterbeing lifted by the pattern mechanism when it is desired to change fromround-andround to to-and-fro knitting. The cam 02 thus acts upon the pin117. so as to lower the upper portion of the plate 13 and lift the pinZ) again into range of the notch a, the latter being permitted to engagewith the pin, owing to the fact that the lever d has been previouslywithdrawn by reason of the dropping of the lever 62. By thus throwingthe vibrating pressercarrying plate out of action during roundand-roundknitting I am enabled to run the machine at a much higher rate of speedduring such round-and-round knitting than was possible in the machinepreviously patented, for in the said patented machine the speed ofrotation as well as that of the to-and-fro movements of the cam-box waslimited by the speed at which the plate 13 could be vibrated, whereas inthe present machine the rotating movements of the cam-box are not solimited and the machine can,d uring round-and-round knitting, be run ata very much higher rate of speed than during to-and-fro knitting whenthe vibrating plate 13 is in action.

The main idea of this part of my invention therefore consists instopping the vibration of the plate 13 during round-and-round knitting,and I do not limit myself to the particular mechanism which may beemployed for effecting this result, as the mechanism may be modified invarious ways without departing from the main feature of the invention.In Fig. 4, for instance, I have shown one such modification, the bar 126in this case having a rack 127 formed upon its upper edge for engagementwith a pinion p, which is so mounted upon the shaft 17 as to turnloosely thereon, but is prevented from moving longitudinally on theshaft. Splined upon the shaft is a clutch-sleeve 3, having teeth forengaging with notches on the pinion 2), this sleeve being under controlof a lever s, which is adapted by a spring 5 to throw the clutch-sleeve5 out of engagement with the hub of the pinion p and by the lever 61 tothrow said clutchsleeve into engagement with the hub of the pinion. Asthe lever 61 is lifted, therefore, when the machine starts to-and-froknitting the pinion will be clutched to the shaft 17, so as to start thevibrations of the plate 13, but when the,lever 61 drops in changing fromto-and-fro to round-and-round knitting the pinion 19 will be unclutchedfrom the shaft 17 and the vibration of the plate 13 will bediscontinued.

On the shaft 104 is a cam 1, (shown by (lot ted lines in Fig. 3,) andthis cam acts upon a lever t, which has two pawls and t", the pawl tengaging with the ratchet-wheel i3 on the drum which carries the mainpatternchain 39 of the machine, said pattern-chain acting upon the arms36 and 37, which are connected to the devices whereby the stopping andstarting of the vibrating presser-plate is effected, while the pawl 25engages with a ratchet-wheel w on a drum which carries a pattern-chainw, the latter acting on a a depending arm 20 which is connected by alink 10 to the arm 10 of a needle-cylinder-adj usting device of anyordinary character, the purpose of this device being to raise or lowerthe needle-cylinder at intervals, so as to provide for drawing longer orshorter stitches.

In the former machine the ratchet-wheel 43 on the pattern-chain shaft ordrum was operated by a pawl receiving motion from the rockshaft 17; butas the latter shaft in the present machine is motionless during aconsidererable part of the time it becomes necessary to operate thepattern-chain drum from the shaft which drives the cam-box.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent 1. The combination in a knitting machine, of the needles,cams for raising said needles to inoperative position, a presser platefor depressing the needles, a cylinder capable of both to and fro androtating movement, and provision whereby the presser plate is caused tovibrate during the to and fro movements of the cylinder, and is allowedto remain stationary during the rotating movement.

2. The combination in a knitting machine, of the needles, cams forraising the needles to inoperative position, a presser plate fordepressing the needles, a cylinder capable of both to and fro androtating movement, mechanism for vibrating the presser plate, and meansfor connecting said mechanism to and disconnecting it from the plate.

The combination in a knitting machine, of the needles, cams for raisingthe needles to inoperative position, a presser plate whereby the needlesare moved to operative position, a cylinder capable of both to and froand rotating movement, a rock shaft carrying the presser plate andhaving an arm with projecting pin, a reciprocated bar having a notch forengaging said pin, and means for lifting said bar out of engagement withthe pin.

at. The combination in a knitting machine, of the needles, cams forraising said needles to inoperative position, a presser plate for movingthe needles to operative position, a cylinder capable of both to and froand rotating movement, a rock shaft carrying the presser plate andhaving an arm with project ing pin, a reciprocated bar having a notchfor engaging said pin, means for lifting the bar so that the pin is freefrom the notch, and provision for moving the arm when so freed so thatits pin is carried out of the path of the notch in the bar as the latterreciprocates.

5. The combination in a knitting machine, of the needles, cams forraising the needles to inoperative position, a presser plate for movingthe needles to operative position, a cylinder capable of both to and froand rotating movement, a rock shaft carrying the presser plate andhaving an arm with project ing pin, a reciprocated bar having a notchfor engaging said pin, means for lifting the bar so that the pin is freefrom the notch, means for moving the pin out of the path of the notch,and provision for restoring the arm to position for re-engageinent ot'the pin with the notch.

6. The combination in aknitting machine, of the needles, cams forraising the needles to inoperative position, a vibrating presser platefor moving the needles to operative position, a cylinder capable of bothto and fro and rotating movement, mechanism for vibrating the presserplate, a pattern chain drum hav-

